Cardin Winchester was breathing heavy as he slammed Executioner into a Creep's skull, the heavy mace cracking the Grimm's head with a sickening thud. Black ichor drips off the titanium flanges of Executioner as he removes the mace from the monster's shattered skull.
The Fire Dust crystal inside Cardin's mace had been drained of it's energy, and now he was left with a regular titanium mace. The only thing keeping him alive was his wits. He had been using his Semblance, Dreadnought, on and off, trying to conserve his Aura and only using it only when absolutely necessary.
The world had fallen apart in less then one hour. Cardin was in a burger joint when the final match between Penny and Pyrrha occured, and he watched on in horror as Penny was torn apart. That woman, that strange black-haired woman gave a speech about something or other. It seemed so long ago, but what she said stirred up panic and fear.
And that drew the Grimm in. On top of that, these airships flown by what looked like White Fang dropped off more Grimm! What was wrong with those animals!? To make matters worse, something was happening to the Atlas ships, it looked like they were fighting each other! Did the White Fang infiltrate them too?
Cardin hadn't been able to find or contact Russel, Dove, or Sky, and panic for their safety had begun to set in.
The young student heard the sounds of a kid calling for help. He may be selfish, he may be a bully, but he's not a monster. He starts running towards the voice, his exhausted, burning legs aching with pain, but he couldn't stop.
Rounding the corner of a bombed out building, he found the source of the voice: a small family, backed into an alleyway by a Beowolf and an Ursa Major. The father was standing in front of his family, a rusty pipe held in his shaking hands as he tried to keep the beasts at bay. His wife was standing in front of their daughter, a broken board in her right hand as she gripped her daughter with her left. They were scared, terrified.
Cardin Winchester refused to let them die. Steam escaped his lips as Dreadnought was activated. He could feel his strength increasing, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Cardin bellowed a feral roar as he charged in. The Beowulf and Ursa turned to fight the intruder, teeth bared and claws extended.
The red haired Huntsman-in-training allowed the Ursa Major's claws to glance off his plate armor as he closed the distance on the Beowolf. One quick swing, and Executioner knocked the wolf Grimm's head from it's body. Pivoting on his foot, Winchester raised his sturdy mace to block heavy paws of the Ursa. Usually, the raw strength from the bear-like monster would be enough to knock anyone off their feet. But Cardin's natural strength, combined with Dreadnought, allowed him to block the blow and parry with a mace to the ribs.
The Ursa stumbled back, growling and snarling, swiping with unexpected speed. The claws scraped against his breastplate, leaving large scratches and knocking the wind out of the brash fighter. The Ursa swung again, the claws just missing him, but the paw slammed into his face and torso. His Aura sparked at the contact.
'I'm pretty sure one of my ribs just cracked,' Cardin thought painfully.
Undeterred, however, Cardin moved in close and slammed Executioner into the Grimm's left forleg, causing the beast to stumble. Wasting no time, Winchester brought the heavy weapon down into the Ursa Major's neck, killing it instantly.
The indigo-eyed student took a moment to catch his breath, and he glanced up at the family he had just saved, and for a breif second, he paused in shock.
The father was a Faunas. Though Cardin hadn't noticed it before, the man had a raccoon's ringed tail flicking behind him. The wife was human, and the daughter had black markings around her eyes, like the mask on a raccoon.
If he had seen them on the street earlier in the day, Cardin probably would've made a snide comment, or rolled his eyes in disgust.
But right now, that seemed so unimportant. This family was fighting to protect each other.
Cardin wiped a bit of blood from his busted lip as he narrowed his eyes.
"What are you just standing around for?" he barked out loudly as he waved his hand at the family. "I saw the police set up an evacuation route in this direction, get a move on!"
The family began to follow, the father and mother giving Cardin looks of eternal gratitude. The small half-Faunas girl looked up at the red-haired teen like he was her guardian angel.
"You saved our lives," the husband murmered gratefully, his racoon tail flicking behind him.
"Yeah...sure," Cardin said quietly.
The police had set up a barricade as they attempted to establish an evacuation route.
"Hey, you!" Cardin shouted at an officer as he led the family up. "We've got three civilians. Get them out of here!"
The officer didn't protest, he simply led the family behind the barricades. The little girl turned around, her blue eyes exaggerated by the dark mask around them. She gave Winchester a small wave.
Cardin glanced back at the street he came from. He could evacuate right now, but he knew that there were more civilians out there.
So, the bully went back into the fray, Executioner becoming stained with Grimm ichor as he looked for more survivors.
Bu as Cardin chased down an Ursa Minor and killed it, he saw some Atlas Knights stepping out. These robots had been helping clean up some Grimm, protecting people. Which is why Winchester froze in shock when the Knights turned their guns to him.
Cardin opened his eyes to see two of the Atlas Knights missing heads and sparking. His jaw dropped as he watched a man in a torn shirt absolutely destroy the group of robots in the span of a few seconds. Half of his torso looked to be prosthetics, and a large white revolver was gripped in his hand. It took Cardin a moment to recognize his savior as General James Ironwood, the Headmaster from Atlas.
"This area is secure," General Ironwood said in a commanding voice. "We need to-"
His words were cut off by a dark-haired Huntsman pulling out a mecha-shift scythe with an intense glare directed at Ironwood.
"Qrow, this isn't my doing!" the general called out as the scruffy Huntsman began to charge.
Cardin was still frozen in shock as he watched Ironwood flip his gun around, prepared to fight this Qrow guy as he jumped. But instead of going for Ironwood, Qrow went for the Griffin behind him, slicing the flying monster in two.
As the two halves hit the ground behind him, the scraggly man let out a dry chuckle.
"You idiot, I know you didn't do this," Qrow muttered. "So, what now General?"
Ironwood stiffened up, and and began giving Glynda and Qrow some directions. The initial shock had worn off for Cardin, even as one of the Atlas warships crashed into a field outside the city, just a few blocks away.
Cardin Winchester took a deep breath, and stepped towards General Ironwood, Ms. Goodwitch, and Qrow.
"Tell me what I can do to help."
